This is an email that was recently sent to a range of organisations including: UKSSN; NEU's Climate Change Network; IoE's Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education; Education Climate Coalition; The Harmony Project; Ministry of Eco Education; Global Action Plan; SOS-UK; Teach the Future; Transform Our World; Let's Go Zero; Eco-Schools; ThoughtBox; UK Youth Climate Coalition; UK Student Climate Network; YOUNGO; XR Youth; Inter-Climate Network and AimHI.
The mail was:
"My name is xxxxx, I'm a chemistry teacher and a coordinator of XR Educators, a group of teachers and other educators particularly concerned about the impact of the Climate and Ecological Emergency on the young people we teach. We are trying to use the power of our position of responsibility for improving the lives of young people to encourage change in government policy and a more responsible approach from large polluters. Our focus recently has been calling on the DfE to expand the ambition of their Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy and also to recognise the Climate and Ecological Emergency as a safeguarding issue and take action accordingly. I've attached our correspondence with the DfE in case you are interested in our positions on these issues.
While passionately engaged, we recognise that we are far from experts in these areas, and we also know that you are doing amazing work in climate change education advocacy. During a successful picket and outreach during Extinction Rebellion's The Big One protest, we saw the huge value that came from conversations with all the other groups that supported our protest – unions, protest groups, scientists and other experts, public sector organisations, even clothing manufacturers. Now the protest is over we are looking to develop and broaden these links, and as we take time to reflect and decide what's next, we are hoping to provide a platform where we can meet and share the wisdom of organisations and individuals with a similar focus. We would love to help you to meet other organisations in person, to hear about ideas, knowledge, strategies and messaging and maybe find ways that groups could collaborate in future to try to achieve mutual objectives. To this end, we invite you to a Round Table event in London (potentially at xxxxx), in June or July, at which we can meet, hear examples of work that is being done and hopefully all benefit from shared experience and expertise."
In many respects this is pretty reasonable; a sharing of strategies and the possibility of collaborative ventures, particularly putting pressure on DfE to do more than it feels it can or needs to do. Had it come from WWF, RSPB, GAP, Ec0-Schools, NAEE, SEEd, etc, I imagine there might have been a good take up. But it didn't; it came from XR's educator group.
Being mindful that the DfE's curriculum team is scared witless that schools will be getting into bed with XR or Just Stop Everything, if the Department slackens its grip on the curriculum and actually encourages innovation, there must be a risk that any organisation taking up this invitation will incur DfE displeasure and be dropped from mailing lists, patronage, garden party invitations, the chance of a gong, or much, much worse, being sidelined in the bid evaluation process.
I wonder who will go.
Respond